Rishi rolled his eyes. “Please, that woman has a thing for him, but poor her because you’re the star of the show. That seething look Desmond gave me when he thought I was your date? You can’t fool me.”
“Well,” I admitted, “full disclosure”—I snuck a look over my shoulder—“things have been getting intense with Des. Promise me that you’ll not make a big deal out of this.” I lowered my voice. “But we hung out last night.”
His eyes widened, and his jaw almost hit the floor. He quickly shut it and then tried once, then twice, unsuccessfully, to speak. Finally, he gave himself a shake and held his hand up for a high five, looking positively delighted for me.
“It’s nothing serious,” I warned him as I high-fived him and leaned back in my chair.
“You hooked up, Ava!” he spluttered, reading my expression.
I bit my lower lip and nodded, hoping that a giggle wouldn’t escape my lips now. Talking about this in person seemed to make Desmond and me more real.
He looked around the café for a minute, eyes shining with excitement. “That’s the best thing I could’ve hoped for you. Besides, I know Desmond! Not the way you know him, obviously, but I know of people who know him. He’s the billionaire venture capitalist and the most eligible bachelor in town! Rumors say he even owns a private island off the Bahamas that he holidays at with his uber-wealthy friends. If I wasn’t friends with you already, I’d be jealous.”
Rishi’s enthusiastic talk was having just the opposite effect on me. I hadn’t known all these details about Desmond. I didn’t want to think about them. It made the idea of going out with Des impossibly nerve-racking.
Over the phone, I’d recently confided in Gabi and the others about Desmond and me getting together. They had been over the moon. Super excited in a way that made me wish I hadn’t gotten their hopes up for nothing.
“I think you need to take a breath,” I said more to myselfthan Rishi just as our food arrived. “Desmond and I are just … not thinking too far ahead at the moment. Besides,” I said, grabbing Rishi’s arm while he drooled over his plate of snails, and I lowered my voice, “he’s my boss.”
“Boss or not,” he said, digging in, “with my observant actor eyes, I could see the way your body tensed up for him at the party, Ava. Even back then, you were hot for him!”
It took three tries to get a fork of risotto into my mouth for some reason.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the back of his chair, chewing slowly. “Ahhh …” Rishi let that sigh trail for a little too long. “I’m just imagining myself being invited to your pre-wedding festivities. Perhaps a tiny little engagement party off the Amalfi Coast, where I can rub shoulders with some snooty men and have hilarious stories to tell my grandchildren about.”
I finally got the hang of picking up the risotto and forking it into my mouth and ate a few bites forcefully. I took a large sip of my drink. “It’s just a temporary thing,” I warned him.
Women who were as rudderless as I was did not do pre-wedding festivities. Heck, we were lucky if we had a wedding that wasn’t in Vegas.
He gave me a look of disbelief. “Why you would want anything with Desmond McKinley to be temporary is beyond me, Ava,” he said.
I sighed. “Over the years, I’ve lost a lot of important people and relationships, including my mother. So, I decided a while ago that serious relationships weren’t for me. I’m investing all my energy into getting my restaurant back because the restaurant can’t leave me.”
“Very often, my dear, I find that the plans I have formyself and the plans that life has for me are far different from one another.”
I groaned as Rishi polished off his last bite.
He smiled broadly. “I was really lucky the day you saved me, huh? By the way, the escargot was lovely. Kind of reminded me of clams.”
27
AVA
Ifinished the rest of my meal surprisingly fast. When we were done, we got up and walked outside, heading in the direction of my work.
A brief noise from the footpath ahead of us distracted Rishi, and he craned his neck to look. “Ooh, I think the paparazzi finally got the memo,” he said, smoothing back his hair and preparing to look composed. “I did remember a newspaper mentioning my tremendous acting inMonsters and Munchies. Perhaps they want an interview.” He tried not to look too pleased as he double-checked that his shoes were shiny and the cuffs of his full-sleeved shirt were drawn back.
I looked again and noticed a rather familiar dark head among the crowd of reporters in the distance. I turned back to Rishi. “I’m really sorry to burst your bubble, Rishi,” I began with mixed feelings, “but I don’t think they’re for you.”
He stood on his tiptoes for a better look and caught sight of Desmond walking on the footpath up ahead.
Rishi spun around to face me. “Is Desmond followingyou around? Do you really have your very own obsessed stalker? A wealthy one at that?” He looked both jealous and impressed at the same time, which made him seem quite adorable.
I scoffed. “I didn’t tell Desmond I’d be here.”
Rishi threw his hands up in the air dramatically. “Of course you don’t need to. The man can hire a platoon of private investigators to figure out where you are. Heck, he can buy the whole company if he wants to.”
We walked closer to the crowd for a better look.
